Joseph walked out of the now unusable phone booth, rocking Shizuka who had been woken up by the phone shattering. He looked at the sky. The sun was hanging high above them. It was only a bit before noon. He hoped that they would be able to find someone, anyone, even one of Josuke's friends he barely knew.
He began walking down a street with many shops. Maybe if he was lucky they would find another payphone. He squinted his eyes, the sun seemed unbearably hot now that he thought about it. He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
The smell of smoke drifted up to his nose. Someone's having a barbeque?
His eyes widened as he felt the skin on his face and head burning like someone had set them on fire.
He thought back to what DIO had said...
...Vampires burn in the sun.
"Oh my god!" Joseph shouted as his face burst into flames. He sprinted down the street with his face literally on fire, with Shizuka screaming and turning his hands invisible.
He sighed in relief as he spotted a clothing shop at the end of the street that was open.
He pushed past a group of people walking on the sidewalk in front of the door and nearly shoved them into traffic. Shizuka had already turned his arms invisible by the time he had reached the door to the shop, so he just used his shoulder to push open the door. As soon as he stumbled inside and out of the sunlight his face stopped burning and his injuries started to heal. He rocked the crying baby and sat on the floor as she slowly turned his arms visible again.
"...Are you okay, sir?" A man in a suit quickly walked over, holding out a bottle of water. "If I'm not mistaken, your face is smoking!"
Joseph nodded. "I'm alright, sorry for the commotion." He accepted the cold bottle and held it to his face in an attempt to make it heal faster. Not like he'd need it, but it was a comfort. "Thank you." He said, looking outside. The sun wasn't going to go down for quite some time.
He sighed. "Do you happen to sell umbrellas?" He asked, pushing his glasses up and attempting to stand.
The man stared in confusion for a moment and then nodded, "Of course, sir!" He said shakily as he assisted Joseph in getting up, "They're right this way."
Joseph followed the man over to the umbrellas and started browsing through them. He pulled a basic white umbrella from the rack. "This one will do." He said, handing it to the man.
The two started walking over to the checkout when a purple glow caught Joseph's eye. There, wrapped around one of the worker's ankles, he saw Hermit Purple! Before he could react, it yanked backward and the man fell forward onto the umbrella. It jabbed through his chest and out his back, now stained red with the worker's blood.
Joseph went to try and assist the worker when he froze. The smell from the blood wafted up to his nose and he felt something sharp in his mouth. Oh no, that can't be good. Joseph sprinted out of the store, shielding Shizuka's eyes from the gory scene. He wanted to puke, yet all the blood that had spilled out made his mouth water...
...Why could he still smell it? He was about a block away now, is this because of how vampires have enhanced senses?
Also, he was outside without any cover, wasn't he? Why wasn't he burning-
-He looked above him, and there was the umbrella being held open by Hermit Purple above them, still dripping blood from the edges.
As he stared in horror at the umbrella his concentration lapsed, and he tripped. He rolled onto his back as he fell so that the baby wouldn't hit the ground and be hurt.
The umbrella stayed upright above him, sitting just over his face so that the light wouldn't hit his exposed skin. The blood from the still soaked umbrella dripped onto his clothes and all around him.
He forced himself to stand and checked on Shizuka. She hadn't a single scratch on her, thankfully. She wasn't even fazed by the fall, somehow, and was reaching for Joseph's face. He gave her a little pat on the head and continued his search for help.
About an hour passed, and thankfully the blood on his clothes and the umbrella had dried. However, he had a new problem…
...He could hear people's hearts beating.
Even if they were on the other side of the sidewalk, he could still hear it!
Joseph swallowed and kept walking despite the constant drumbeat of the lunchtime crowd's hearts making him hungrier by the minute. It didn't help that there were so many people on that street, they were packed like sardines. He weaved in and out between people in the crowd, trying to ignore any odd stares he was getting for his appearance.
An old man covered in blood holding an umbrella and a baby, that certainly was going to turn heads.
His heart stopped as he bumped into an elderly woman he hadn't spotted before. The woman was too busy reading some random brochure to have noticed him approaching.
"Watch where you're going, young man!" She shouted, but he could barely hear her over the sound of her heartbeat.
Joseph ran around her, not even apologizing, turning into an empty alleyway to take a breather. He stood and appreciated the near silence for a moment.
Of course, he still could hear one slow heartbeat with him. Shizuka's, which was slowed as she was sleeping yet again.
Today must've been exhausting for her.
He walked further down into the alleyway, brushing a hand through his brown hair. It was finally quiet, after way too long of constant noise and stomach growling, his ears finally rested.
He could finally think about what he was going to do next.
As he looked up at the umbrella still being held by Hermit Purple, he sighed. There was just no getting away from it, if he were to go into another phone booth it'd end in disaster yet again. He would just have to find someone directly.
As he stepped over a radio that was laying on the ground of the alley, a single strand of Hermit Purple shot down past him and into one of the speakers of the radio.
"Haven't given up yet, eh, Joseph?" DIO's voice crackled through the dirty radio. "You do realize skipping meals isn't healthy for you, right?"
"Shut it, DIO," Joseph growled.
As DIO's laugh came through, he stopped walking. He turned and kicked the radio causing it to go flying out of sight and ripping it from Hermit Purple's grasp. He looked up at the sky where he had last seen it and could've sworn he saw a sparkle where it went.
He shook his head, turned, and continued walking.